Meet the 10 new dictionary words of 2025

Recently Oxford Dictionaries released this year's list of new words that due to popular use had made their way into the dictionary; a validation of their mainstream (or at least very fervent niche) existence. We’re talking about terms such as “manspreading”, “wine o’clock”, “mic drop” and “awesomesauce”.

It can be hard to imagine that someone 10 years ago didn’t know, for example, what a “selfie“ was – the word just hadn’t entered everyday use. So we thought, in honour of 10th birthday, we’d jump in our lexical DeLorean and head 10 years forward in time to 2025. Let’s find out what makes the list that year…

Thinglish

Kids in 2025 find whole sentences difficult, so have done away with verbs and adjectives completely to communicate using just nouns – via their iPhone11, Galaxy12, iFrisbee or Google Comonocle (a data-enabled eyepiece). Most parents do point out that teenagers have in fact been communicating in single words or grunts for decades, so this doesn’t really feel too different.

Dronership

The informal “finders keepers” law that means if a drone crash lands in your backyard, then it’s yours. Intended to be a response to wayward and reckless drone operators (dubbed “spilots” – one of 2024’s new words), governments have rejected making the law official for fear that it will encourage residents to actively try and bring down drones through any means possible.

Kanyeah

Affirmation made popular during President Kanye West’s successful re-election for a second term in office in 2024. The campaign was a tough one with President West coming up against the negative tactics and media clout of Senator Colbert. The president, along with First Lady Kim and their children North, South, North by North, Wild and Go had come under heavy criticism in 2023 for repainting the White House gold.

Dwellness

A $65 billion industry in 2025 alone, the manufacturing and retrofitting of smart homes that sense your moods, metabolic rate and stress levels has created an entire new market of accessories and applications – from yoga mattresses to massaging mailboxes, aromatherapy windows, calorie counting fridges and mood mirrors (which show you how you’d like to look). It’s big bucks, and the media has dubbed it the “dwellness” industry.

Czechnology

Ever since the Czech Republic become the global super producer of sought-after technology (following China and Japan’s catastrophic industrial strikes of 2019-2020), consumers have turned to new brands such as Sjony, Pragasonic, Samslav, Brnokia and Zlintel. This new surge in hardware emerging from the once communist state coined this term to mean any top quality technology from the region.

Lobal Warming

Microchipped earlobes were of course made mandatory for everyone from 2017, but many scientists have been worried that they may be causing harmful health side effects, including a rise in body temperatures. In 2000, the average human body temperate was 37.0 degrees. But it is estimated that by 2050, thanks to lobal warming, you’ll be able to fry an egg on your forehead.

Nut Bar

After a 2023 pandemic saw mass peanut allergies spread across the globe, all traces of nuts were banned from workplaces, homes and in public. For those who continue to risk their health by ingesting the last remaining stocks of peanut butter, Nutella, or macadamia ice-cream, they must do so only in designated venues – nicknamed “nut bars” – sealed off from the public and used at their own risk.

Spuddite

A person who refuses to learn how to use a potato for lighting. Also known as “starch-enemies”, these individuals are often manufacturers of light bulbs, who have seen their market share plummet ever since it was found that potatoes could be used to light homes, offices and even streets. With a potato using 733% less energy than an energy saving bulb, it’s not hard to see why they’d have a chip on their shoulder…

Tunder

No, it’s not a dating app for New Zealanders. Rather, it’s a word that has been made popular in real estate hunting circles. “Tunder” is a contraction of “ten and under” – to signify that a house is worth less than $10 million. Finding a “tunder” has become increasingly difficult across Australia in recent years, with one of the last ones selling for $9.8 million in early 2025 – a one bedroom downstairs unit on the outskirts of Wagga Wagga. (There were rumours of a tunder in Sydney in late 2024, but it turned out to be a typo and the home was actually selling for $108 million, not the bargain basement $8 million as first home buyers had hoped.)

Plagger

For authors in 2025, you are either a plotter, a planner or a plagger. A plagger uploads their list of characters, locations, word count and a one sentence synopsis to the plag.com website and they receive the first draft of the manuscript back again within three to five seconds. Since launching just four years ago with the slogan “Life is short – write a novel”, the site has been slammed by many famous writers including Sam Samsonite, bestselling author of 2024’s smash hit The Tomato Conspiracy. However, a hacking scandal in July 2025 saw the names of all plag.com users released to the public – much to the embarrassment of Samsonite…